Journey into health history: Polio epidemic of the 1940s-1950s

1941 Dunn County Public Health Service Annual Report, cover page

During this time of uncertainty of the Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19) Pandemic affecting the world, and now close to home, it brings to mind other health epidemics that have occurred during the last century. One that effected many people, including the 32^nd President of the United States, Franklin D. Roosevelt, was Polio, also know as Poliomyelitis and Infantile Paralysis. Polio is caused by poliovirus and is usually spread from person to person by infected fecal matter entering the mouth. It causes muscle weakness, usually in the legs, but also in the head, neck, and diaphragm. There was a wide spread of Polio in the United States during the 1940s-1950s, and national and local organizations were created to help in the effort to eradicate it, such as the National Foundation for Infantile Paralysis, later renamed the March of Dimes. Jonas Salk created a polio vaccine in 1952, which became available for widespread vaccinations between 1954-1956.

Polio affected many people in Wisconsin, whether by directly contracting Polio, or knowing someone who was affected, or helping organizations by donating money and blood. One famous Wisconsin author who contracted Polio in 1947 at the age of 12 is Jerry Apps. He writes about his personal experience in his 2013 book Limping Through Life: A Farm Boy’s Polio Memoir.  He writes about his experience feeling the symptoms set in and his right leg not working quite right, and how this affected his life as a farm boy then and his decisions later in life.

Apps lived in Wild Rose, in Waushara County, near the middle of the state, while my grandmother, Betty Pilgrim (later Betty Grohn) lived in Stanley, in Chippewa/Clark Counties, 1 hour east of Menomonie. She was diagnosed with Polio in 1949 at the age of eighteen. Her story is similar to many others with the course of treatment she received. She traveled from Stanley to Madison in the back of a hearse so she could lay down, because Stanley did not have an ambulance at the time. She stayed at the Madison’s Children’s Hospital for four months of therapy to regain the use of her legs. Much of her therapy included hot packs (wool blankets soaked in boiling water and placed on her legs) and muscle training to reeducate her muscles. My grandmother never regained 100% use of her legs, and used crutches, canes, and walkers to help her walk at various times in her life, and was permanently in a wheelchair the last five years she was alive. She lived a full life and did not let Polio define her, with getting married, having 4 children, working outside the home and being a great cook and knitter.

Betty Grohn with children, 1959

The Polio epidemic also affected the health of Dunn County residents and operations at the Stout Institute. Searching through the UW-Stout University Archives, I discovered a collection of Annual Reports created by the Dunn County Public Health Nursing Service, ranging from 1941-1975. The Dunn County Nurse’s annual reports refer many times to the polio issue and protecting the health of children in Dunn County. In 1941, there were 4 cases of infantile paralysis reported in Dunn County, and there was an orthopedic school available in Eau Claire. Throughout the 1950s, the nurse reported on the number of handi-capped children documented, orthopedic programs and orthopedic clinics held by the Bureau for Handicapped Children, organizations contributing to the Health Program of Dunn County such as the Dunn County Infantile Paralysis Organization who “provided care for all new polio cases and continued help for many previous cases,” and polio clinics administering the Salk Polio vaccine during the second half of the 1950s, such as administered by the Dunn County Polio Chapter (1951 annual report). 

1959 Dunn County Public Health Service Annual Report, 

The effects of the Polio epidemic on the Stout Institute are mentioned many times in the Stoutonia student newspaper, from the 1940s onwards. For example, at the beginning of the 1949 school year, Polio was the cause for the late opening of the pool, to help prevent the spread of Polio. “…Fear of heat, crowds, swimming pools, and movie theaters became common in the summer months. Parents under the advice of the Foundation kept their children isolated at home throughout the summer. Schools openings were commonly delayed in times of epidemics and fears persisted as polio ravaged more and more children and young adults” (Smith, 2003. p.34). There are many articles and ads at the beginning of the 1950s about donating blood for blood drives on campus with the Blood Mobile in Dunn County, editorials from the editors desk, projects that fraternities and sororities undertook to help those effected by Polio, and even ads for the March of Dimes. 

Stoutonia, Feb. 6, 1953, p. 1

Stoutonia May 15, 1953, p. 2

Stoutonia, Jan. 23, 1953, p. 2

Today, the Coronavirus is once again affecting our community and university with moving to alternative methods of instruction, moving of students out of residence halls, cancellation of an in-person Spring commencement ceremony, and many faculty and staff working remotely from home. We are all in this together, just as during other times of health crisis in our country’s history.

By: Julie Hatfield, Archives Assistant, UW-Stout Archives

Sources:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polio  (accessed 3/20/2020)

Dunn County Public Health Nursing Service Annual Reports, 1941-. Manuscript 41. University of Wisconsin-Stout, Archives Department

Stoutonia. Volume 39. 1949-1950. Volume 42. 1952-1953. University of Wisconsin-Stout, Archives Department. https://archive.org/details/stoutonia?&sort=date   (accessed 3/20/2020)

Apps, Jerry. Limping Through Life: A Farm Boy’s Polio Memoir. Wisconsin Historical Society Press, 2013

Oshinsky, David M. Polio: An American Story. New York: Oxford University Press, 2005.

Smith, Stacy Lynn. “Perceptions of Polio in the United States: 1890 to 1960.” Master’s Thesis, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, 2003.